Vernon Dursley
'Vernon Dursley ' was the Muggle uncle-in-law of Harry Potter and was Harry's guardian when he was growing up. Vernon was the husband of Petunia Dursley and they had one child, Dudley Dursley. Early life Vernon grew up with one sister, Majorie Dursley and attended Smeltings Academy. He met Petunia Evans and they were married in around 1979. They had one child who they named Dudley and lived at 4 Privet Drive. Guardianship of Harry Potter The Boy Who Lived Vernon was very content with the very normal life he lived with Petunia and Dudley, who was one year old, and happy they had nothing to do with Lily and James Potter. They were worried that their neighbours may one day find out their secret - that they knew the Potter family. He and Petunia were very proud of Dudley and not fond of the idea that he would grow up knowing Harry. On a dull Tuesday morning, he left for work when he noticed a cat reading and when he looked again, it was reading the sign of the road name but he shook it off. He was also very unhappy the people he noticed while he drove to work, who were wearing cloaks, and he was shocked by an emerald-green cloak in particular. Vernon never noticed the many owls outside the office window throughout the day at work, spending the day shouting at five people. When he went to bakery for lunch though, he noticed the people in cloaks again. He overheard them talking about the Potter family and their mention of Harry. That worried him and he run back to the office and thought about phoning Petunia, until he thought that perhaps he was wrong and that Harry was not actually the name of Petunia's nephew. He worried about it at work and then when he departed at five, he bumped into an elderly man in a violet cloak. He apologised but the man was not annoyed with him and told him that even the muggle world should be happy that Voldemort was defeated, and then hugged him and walked away. Vernon was shocked at the nonsense he heard and wondered a muggle was. He returned home and wondered whether he should say anything to Petunia knowing she would not be happy to even hear Lily's name. Vernon mentioned her anyway, and Petunia reacted how Vernon thought she would. She agreed that the strange things may be connected to the magic world and Lily, and told him that the name of her nephew was definitely Harry. They never mentioned it again and Petunia went to sleep, though Vernon worried about it a while longer. He then decided that even if Lily and James were part of whatever happened in the magic world, they would not be the Dursley's problem and went to sleep. When he woke the next morning, he would have found Harry on the doorstep and a letter explaining James and Lily's death and that he and Petunia were now the granted guardianship of Harry. Problems at the zoo Ten years later on Dudley's eleventh birthday, Vernon woke up and went to the kitchen where he told Harry that he needed a new hair cut, which Harry noted he said at least once a week. Vernon and Petunia had lied to Harry about how James and Lily died, allowed Dudley to bully Harry and told him nothing about the magic world. They hated Harry doing anything strange and would punish him with "a week in the cupboard" if they thought he used magic, even though Harry never understood why, telling Vernon that he could not help it. Vernon and Petunia had brought Dudley many presents, though Dudley noticed he had two less than last year. They then promised to buy him two extra presents when they went out. When Harry's child-minder phoned and said she could not look after him, Vernon and Petunia tried to think of other people to send him to but eventually decided Harry would need to stay with them on Dudley's special birthday treat, upsetting Dudley while Petunia tried to calm him down. He they warned Harry went they left the house that he would be put in the cupboard if he tried any "funny business", meaning magic. On the way to the zoo, Vernon talked about one of the many things he loved to hate (motorcycles) and Harry then thought of a dream from the previous night about a flying motorcycle which made Vernon suddenly stop the car and shout that motorcycles do not fly. Vernon brought Dudley and Piers Polkiss chocolate ice-creams and though the Dursley family hoped the ice-cream woman would not notice Harry, she asked Harry what he wanted and Vernon had to buy him a lemon-pop. Vernon brought Dudley another knickerbocker glory when he was unhappy with the lack of ice-cream, and let Harry eat the other one. Later, Vernon tried to make a snake wake up for Dudley but even though he tried twice by rapping on the window, it would not wake and they left. Harry then looked at the snake, and about a minute later, Piers shouted for Vernon and Dudley to look at the snake again because Harry managed to wake it up. Vernon then watched in anger when Harry made the glass pane fade away. When Piers later told Vernon that Harry was talking to the snake, Vernon waited until Piers went home to shout at Harry, and then threw him in the cupboard and told him he would not be allowed a proper dinner. Meeting Hagrid Dudley was accepted into Smeltings Academy, Vernon's old school and was very proud when Dudley wore the school uniform. The next day when he was reading the newspaper, he asked Dudley to pick up the mail for him. Dudley ordered Harry to instead, and Harry replied that Dudley should. Vernon then told Dudley to hit Harry with the new Smeltings stick instead. Harry took a while to bring the post which made Vernon shout at him, and Harry tried to hide a letter that was actually addressed to him for once. Dudley noticed and told Vernon who took the letter from Harry, but he told him that was not addressed to them. Vernon told Harry that no one would write to him but when he looked at the letter, he was shocked and ordered Petunia to look. He and Petunia stared at the letter for a minute and kept it out of reach from Dudley, who tapped Vernon on the head with the sharp stick. Vernon told both Dudley and Harry to leave the room, but both of them demanded to see the letter. Vernon then threw them in the hall and shut the kitchen door but they both stayed there and eavesdropped at the door. Vernon and Petunia were horrified to learn that whoever sent the letter knew where Harry slept. Vernon agreed that the magic world were probably spying on them. Vernon decided the best thing to do was pretend they never saw the letter. Vernon told her he was not having "one of them" in the house, meaning a wizard. He then spoke to Harry later and told him he destroyed the letter, and that it was wrongly addressed to him. Harry told him it was not wrong, but Vernon told him to stop it. He then suddenly smiled at Harry and told him that he was being allowed to move out of the cupboard and that he's allowed to have Dudley's second bedroom though Vernon would not explain why. The next day, another letter for Harry arrived with the new room name. Dudley and Harry fought Vernon for the letter, and Vernon won and ripped it up. Vernon then slept by the front door thinking Harry would wake up early and he screamed at Harry for half an hour when he tried to. Then another few letters arrived and Petunia told Vernon when he nailed the mail slot shut his she thought it would never work, but Vernon told her these people sending the letters won't think normal. Petunia was proved right when twelve letters were placed through the side of the door and window instead, and Vernon nailed the edges of the door shut. The next day, Petunia went to accept the delivery of two dozen eggs through the window and found twenty four letters placed in them. She then shredded the letters while Vernon phoned the dairy and screamed at them. When around thirty letters arrived through the fireplace on Sunday even though Vernon thought post would not be delivered that day, he made everyone run out the room. Vernon then ordered the family to join him in leaving Privet Drive. The next day, he drove to the forest, a plowed field, a bridge and a parking garage which made Dudley ask Petunia whether Vernon had lost the plot. He then took them to the Hut-on-the-Rock. The Keeper of the Keys Vernon was woken up by Rubeus Hagrid knocking down the door. He run into the room with a gun while Hagrid found Harry and told him he looked like James but with Lily's eyes. Vernon then told him to leave at once, but Hagrid told him to shut up, reached for the gun and broke it, throwing it at the corner of the wall. Hagrid became very angry with Vernon and Petunia when he found out they told Harry nothing about magic. Vernon tried to warn Hagrid not to tell Harry anything, but he told him anyway Vernon told Hagrid and Harry he thought the story Hagrid told was rubbish, he was happy James and Lily died because they were weird and he thought they had it coming, before telling Hagrid he thought Dumbledore was a lunatic, which made him very angry. Hagrid then used the umbrella he brought with him to try and turn Dudley into a pig, and achieved a pig's tail. The event frightened the Dursley family who run into the next room, leaving Harry with Hagrid. Diagon Alley Harry thought of how the Dursley family would have taken every piece of money from the Potter family vault in Diagon Alley if they knew how knew how rich they really were, because they were unhappy with paying for things for Harry out of their own pocket. Summers with Harry Summer of 1991 Vernon would now only see Harry every summer holiday. For the next month before Harry would begin attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Vernon and Petunia would spend the time being both scared and angry with Harry, and would not say a word to him. On the final day of August, Harry announced he was in the room while the family watched TV and told them he needed to be at King's Cross the next day. Vernon made a noise which Harry knew meant Vernon would drop him off, but when he was leaving the room, Vernon laughed about how funny it was the wizarding world took the train and not flying carpets. Harry then told them the only thing he knew was he needed to be at Platform 9 and ¾the next day at eleven. Vernon and Petunia then laughed, telling Harry there was no platform of the name at King's Cross. Harry told him the name was on the ticket, but Vernon said the magic world was "howling mad". He agreed to take Harry, but only because he was taking Dudley to remove the pig's tail by the doctor. The next day, Vernon left Harry at Platform Ten with a smile pointing out the platform Harry needs should be in the middle of nine and ten, but "they don't seem to have built it yet". Harry then watched them drive away, laughing at him out the window. Appearance Vernon was large and beefy and hardly had a neck. Character Vernon loved to hate many things which he would angrily talk about, from people at work, the council, the bank, motorcycles and even Harry. He hated anything that was not normal - even people who wore strange clothing like robes. He hated the magic world in particular, and even the very mention of it. While he was very loving toward Petunia and Dudley (who he was very proud of), he could be mean to Harry nearly every day and shouted at people at work. Notes and sources Category:Characters Category:Muggles